Becoming the change

Initially it was we who complained. Now most of us at are at the receiving end when the kids we know and love declare that we don't understand them. It's the age-old dilemma.

"That's our primary reason for creating Safety Net," smiles Suzan Gerreyan, Administrator and Coordinator for Safety Net. Suzane has been a part of ESCAPE for the last three years and knows what it's like to relate to and understand children. "We get kids under the age of 18 coming to us on a daily basis with their problems and it never ceases to amaze us when we talk to them." The majority of ESCAPE's employees are far from middle-aged. "But even though we were young just a few years ago, it's easier to relate to the problems that kids face nowadays when they come to us themselves."

ESCAPE is a non-governmental organisation that is committed to children. Their main work focuses on child sexual abuse, something they've been involved in for the past 12 years. The organisation was set up in September 1995, on the initiative of two nurses – one Sri Lankan and the other Swedish. Its goal was to create awareness, primarily in the community, about the problem of commercial sexual exploitation of children.

The idea for Safety Net came out during one of their information sessions for children, when a counsellor attached to ESCAPE was confronted by one of the participants with the question of how adults find it difficult to understand children. With that simple situation in mind ESCAPE put together a group of six individuals ranging from counsellors to doctors and family workers to come up with an innovative project to sort out the problem.

"What Safety Net proposes to do is to ideally create a children's forum where children from all walks of life can come together to engage in discussions and raise awareness about problems that they face in society today."

ESCAPE feels that children in Sri Lanka are at a lesser advantage where acting upon their rights and protecting themselves are concerned. Most of the kids are unaware of Child Protection laws put forth by the Government and society tends to be somewhat careless about issues that affect children of today. This results in children feeling that their rights and issues are unimportant.

"We felt that a children's forum was the way to get things started," adds Niluka Wickremasinghe, a counsellor attached to the group. "They are in a much better position to voice their concerns on issues that affect them and they need to be empowered so others, specifically adults, can understand their importance in society." She also added that it is more practical for children to work together to solve issues that affect them, as an adult assuming their role will in turn create a greater division.

With two of the discussion groups having already taken place "Safety Net" is well on its way. They say that they are driven by the success of the drop in centres that were created by the National Child Protection Authority a few years ago. A place was created for street children to spend their time learning and teaching each other, under the supervision of professional child workers, anything and everything from arts and crafts to mathematics. "Within a few years it was the very same children who came for lessons who were delivering them," says Suzan adding that this is what they hope Safety Net will be a few years down the line. "In Nepal for instance, children even have their own radio station where they can voice their concerns on the actions of adults."

What ESCAPE proposes to do with "Safety Net" is to invite children from all walks of life to join them in starting up the discussion groups. During these discussions the children will undoubtedly raise their own issues and concerns which will be considered by both the counsellors and family workers at ESCAPE and the other participants in order that they may come up with a viable solution.

"One problem we felt the kids could look at initially included simple things like creating awareness of garbage dumps that could breed mosquitoes and make them ill. If the kids come up with problems like that, then everyone can chip in to come up with a solution. During one of the sessions a group of young boys pointed out that they feel pressurised by the older students to try out drugs. "These are not questions that children will willingly talk to their parents about – it's easier to speak your mind when the listeners are from the same age group."

The forum so far consists of children and young adults under the age of 18, male and female, from government, private and international schools. They come from varied backgrounds, religions and races. "None of those things matter when you are a kid, the issues you face are so very common!" smiles Suzan.

Interestingly, the children at the forum have also come up with the topics of ‘child labour’ and ‘corporeal punishment.’ "We are not going to tell them what they should do about things, all that we will provide them with are possible tools that they can use to avoid such situations and create awareness amongst themselves and their friends."

The first few sessions will involve the children bringing out their concerns. Once that is done, the counsellors and family workers who function as the facilitators at ESCAPE will step in to teach the children the much-needed tools. This will include sessions on Street Theatre and Drama, how to approach and achieve success through the media, sessions in art and poster making and finally puppetry. "Through our own experiences we have realised that puppetry is the one way of guaranteeing results from the viewers," adds Niluka.

As the facilitators of the forum, ESCAPE will highlight the limitations that the children might face and try to come up with practical solutions. "It's a completely voluntary exercise on the part of the kids," says Suzan, "We feel that it's because they feel the need for protection that they are so willing to participate."

"We had a girl who at the very first session told us how one of her teachers had scolded a very shy and timid classmate in front of everyone and then slapped her. She had cried her heart out."

This is yet another aspect that ESCAPE hopes to address through the forum.

With the initial response of the children, ESCAPE is convinced that the children once involved, will learn to be the change that they want.